Have you ever wondered why? Why you started doing something? It could be anything – a new sport, a new route to work, a new relationship, a new hobby, a new business.
We often start new things and just keep moving without pausing to reflect why we started them in the first place. Recently someone asked me why I started SimplaFYI. The question allowed me to reflect and reaffirm my why, so I thought I’d share that with you.
I have been interested in health and wellbeing since I was fourteen, volunteering at our local hospital in the Emergency Room and Pediatric Unit. There I quickly realized how I wanted to help people be well. I started college thinking I would be a nurse. After two years of studies and weekend work at a nursing home, I shifted my focus to accounting. A naive interaction with a 58-year old woman with metastatic breast cancer convinced me I wasn’t cut out to care for people. It wasn’t until years later that a physician friend of mine helped me understand my 18-year old wisdom was a gift, the words I shared with the patient gave her permission to die, something her family wasn’t able to do.
After graduating college with a B.S. in Accounting, I intentionally sought out a job on the business side of healthcare landing as an auditor for our Medicare program. This experience provided me with foundational knowledge of how healthcare in America is structured and paid for. This knowledge afforded me a quick pivot back to hospitals, helping them optimize income from insurers to care for the people needing our services. I still give back in the healthcare sector earnestly awaiting the coming transformation.
At 25 my own health was challenged with acute onset pancreatitis. This landed me in the hospital for two weeks as test after test was performed to determine why. In the end the reason was idiopathic, or unknown. This is where reality hit for me. I wanted to understand more, the root cause so I could prevent a recurrence. I dutifully met with the registered dietitian as referred, was quickly disenchanted with the advice and decided to own my health. This started with choosing and noticing. Since pancreatitis is often tied to alcohol consumption I started there. No more alcohol for me. You can imagine the joy my friends had to have a committed designated driver!
Next up was experimenting with food. I wasn’t a complete junk food junkie, but definitely had room to improve. I love crunch, Cheez-its were my go to but after reading the label and comparing to other crunch options, I now opt for Pop Corners and Hippeas instead. Let’s face it, crunch is not a fruit or vegetable (although many will front they are) but moving toward better options became a goal of mine. My other fave was pizza. This was a weekly event with leftovers to enjoy for a couple days after. I still love pizza, opting for once a month or so with veggies and sourdough crust. These small changes had a big impact on my healing.
There were many more adjustments over the years including moving towards mostly plants, minimizing sugar and salt, incorporating yoga, meditation and lots of walks. I discovered acupuncture, chiropractic and massage. The benefits of these holistic practices focus on the whole person, not just a fragmented portion of who we are. They recognize the connection of mind, body and spirit and can often reduce or eliminate the need for medication. There are evidence-based studies to support their value with certain conditions and there are more studies underway.
The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health conducts and supports research to provide information about these services. The Veterans Administration has been a partner in these studies providing support to veterans with a lens towards whole person health.
All of these modifications have supported not only health in my body, but the health of my mind and spirit. There is a different way, a blended way and SimplaFYI was founded to help advance this important initiative. We stand by our ‘why’ and look forward to contributing to whole person health as the wave gains momentum.
SimplaFYI is a health & wellbeing company focused on integrative care. We partner with vetted practitioners of acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, meditation|mindfulness, yoga, nutrition, health coaches, and more. We work with organizations to advance awareness and access to these important services.
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